Baseball Strike Notification System

ABSTRACT

A baseball strike notification system. The strike notification system includes a radar configured to measure the velocity of a baseball, a plurality of cameras having wireless transmitters configured to measure the position of the baseball via velocity information from the radar, and an earpiece having a processor, speaker, and wireless receiver configured to receive the position information from the plurality of cameras. A logic stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, when executed by the processor, causes the strike notification to perform a method including the steps of calculating a strike zone, triangulating the position of the baseball within the strike zone, and notifying the umpire whether the pitch is a ball or a strike via an audible notification emitted through a speaker.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/240,686 filed on Oct. 13, 2016. The above identified patent application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety to provide continuity of disclosure.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for determining the position of a baseball during a pitch. More specifically, the present invention provides a strike detection system configured to determine the position of a baseball with respect to a calculated strike zone and notify the umpire whether the pitch as a ball or a strike via an audible notification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the game of baseball, incoming pitches are directed towards an imaginary strike zone that is adjacent to the batter's box where the batter stands. The strike zone is a three-dimensional volume over home plate, and is bounded by the edges of home plate and by the height of the batter. A pitched ball which passes through at least a portion of the strike zone is called a “strike”, regardless of whether the batter swings the bat at the pitched ball. A batter is allowed a predetermined number of strikes before he is called “out”. Any pitch that does not pass through a portion of the strike zone and is not swung at by the batter is called a “ball”. If the batter receives a predetermined number of “balls”, he progresses or “walks” to first base.

A human umpire is typically required to determine whether the pitched balls are “balls” or “strikes”. There are several disadvantages of having a human umpire calling balls and strikes. Some umpires utilize larger strike zones than others. In this event, the baseball teams often argue amongst themselves over whether a particular pitch is a “ball” or a “strike”. Further, a close or incorrect call can decide the outcome of the game. Disagreements as to the call of a particular pitch are inevitable in such cases. It is therefore desirable to provide a system for detecting whether a pitch is a ball or a strike and for notifying the umpire of the status of the pitch for the purpose of increased accuracy and a decreased number of incorrect calls.

Devices have been disclosed in the prior art that relate to baseball strike zone detection systems. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent application publications. These devices generally relate to ball tracking systems, such as U.S. Pat. No. 8,591,356, U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,576, U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,322, U.S. Pat. No. 6,985,206, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,164.

These prior art devices have several known drawbacks. These devices fail to provide a system for determining whether a ball or strike is thrown that emits a specific notification to an umpire via a headset. Further, these devices fail to utilize a combination of radar and a plurality of cameras to determine the position of a baseball and calculate whether or not it passes through the strike zone.

In light of the devices disclosed in the prior art, it is submitted that the present invention substantially diverges in design elements from the prior art and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing baseball strike detection systems. In this regard the present invention substantially fulfills these needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of baseball strike zone detection systems now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a baseball strike notification system wherein the same can be utilized for providing convenience for the user when notifying an umpire whether a pitch is a ball or a strike. The strike notification system includes: a radar configured to measure the velocity of a baseball, and a plurality of cameras in operable communication with the radar, each of the plurality of cameras comprising a wireless transmitter, wherein each of the plurality cameras configured to determine the position of the baseball along an axis. A headset comprising a processor, a speaker, and a wireless receiver is configured to receive the position information from each of the plurality of cameras. The headset includes a non-transitory computer readable medium operatively connected to the processor, and a logic stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executed by the processor, causes the strike notification system to perform a method, the method comprising the steps of calculating a strike zone, the strike zone being three dimensional spatial volume above home plate, triangulating a position of the baseball in a three coordinate space via position information received from the plurality of cameras. If the position of the baseball is within the strike zone, then the speaker emits a first audible notification. If the position of the baseball is not within the strike zone, then the speaker emits a second audible notification.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Although the characteristic features of this invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims, the invention itself and manner in which it may be made and used may be better understood after a review of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like numeral annotations are provided throughout.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a ball entering a strike zone determined by a strike zone indication system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of the components of a strike zone indication system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference is made herein to the attached drawings. Like reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to depict like or similar elements of the baseball strike notification system. For the purposes of presenting a brief and clear description of the present invention, the preferred embodiment will be discussed as used for notifying a baseball umpire of whether a pitch is a ball or a strike. The figures are intended for representative purposes only and should not be considered to be limiting in any respect.

As used herein, “logic” refers to (i) logic implemented as computer instructions and/or data within one or more computer processes and/or (ii) logic implemented in electronic circuitry.

As used herein, “computer-readable medium” excludes any transitory signals, but includes any non-transitory data storage circuitry, e.g., buffers, cache, and queues, within transceivers of transitory signals.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of a ball entering a strike zone determined by the strike zone indication system. The strike zone is a three-dimensional spatial volume disposed over home plate 12. The strike zone is bounded by the edges of home plate 12 and as such forms a pentagonal prism. If a pitch passes through the volume defining the strike zone, then it is a strike. If a pitch does not pass through the strike zone, then it is a ball.

The strike zone includes a width 13, a length 14, and a height 15. The width 13 is the distance between the right edge and left edge of home plate 12. The length 14 of the strike zone is the distance between the front edge and rear edge of home plate 12. The width 13 varies across the length 14 of the strike zone due to the pointed end of the pentagonal plate.

The height 15 of the strike zone is bounded by a horizontal plane at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants of the batter at the upper end, while the lower end is a horizontal plane through the knee of the batter. The exact height of the strike zone is determined by the batter's stance as they prepare to hit a ball. As such, the strike zone varies greatly depending on the height and stance of each batter. In one embodiment of the invention, the height information for each particular batter is stored on a database. The height information can be selected and accessed during calculation of the strike zone. In another embodiment, the height of the strike zone can be determined by a camera configured to measure the same during a batter's stance.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a diagram of the components of the strike zone indication system. The strike zone notification includes a radar 21. The radar 21 is oriented to face the pitcher and is configured to determine the velocity of an incoming pitch as it is thrown.

The strike zone notification system further includes a plurality of cameras configured to gather positional data of the pitch. In the illustrated embodiment, three cameras are utilized, wherein each camera determines the position of the baseball along a particular axis. For example, a first camera 22 is configured to determine the position of the baseball along the width axis, a second camera 23 is configured to determine the position of the baseball along the length axis, and a third camera 24 is configured to determine the position of the baseball along the height axis. In alternate embodiments, more or less cameras may be utilized for the purpose of providing accurate measurements of the baseball's position.

The cameras are in operable communication with the radar 21 and use the velocity information to assist in tracking the ball and determining the position thereof. In an alternate embodiment, one of the plurality of cameras is configured to determine the height of the strike zone by measuring the distance between the batter's knees and the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants of the batter.

Each of plurality of cameras includes a wireless transmitter 25 configured to transmit the position data of the baseball to a headset 30 worn by an umpire. The headset 30 is powered by a power supply 35 such as a rechargeable battery. The headset includes a wireless receiver 34 configured to receive information from the cameras via Bluetooth or other known wireless information transfer protocol.

The headset 30 further includes a processor 31 and a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a memory 32 operatively connected to the processor 31. A logic 33 is stored on the memory 32 that, when executed by the processor 31, causes the headset 30 to calculate the strike zone of the current batter via height data of the batter stored on the memory 32 or alternatively via height data determined by one of the cameras. The processor 31 then determines the exact position of the baseball as a function of time as it crosses the plate. The processor 31 triangulates the position of the baseball using the data received from each of the cameras.

The headset 30 further includes a speaker 36. The speaker 36 emits an audible notification to the umpire regarding the status of the pitch. If the ball is determined to be within the strike zone, then the speaker 36 emits a first audible notification, which may be the word “strike” spoken aloud. If the ball is determined to be outside of the strike zone, then the speaker 36 emits a second audible notification, which may be the word “ball” spoken aloud. This provides an accurate determination of the pitch status to the umpire, who can use the information to confirm or deny his or her own call of the pitch. In this way, the accuracy of the umpire's calls is dramatically increased, providing a fair game for those involved.

It is therefore submitted that the instant invention has been shown and described in what is considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments. It is recognized, however, that departures may be made within the scope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art. With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention. 

I claim: 1) A strike notification system comprising: a radar configured to measure the velocity of a baseball; a plurality of cameras in operable communication with the radar, each of the plurality of cameras comprising a wireless transmitter, wherein each of the plurality cameras configured to determine the position of the baseball along an axis; a headset comprising a processor, a speaker, and a wireless receiver configured to receive the position information from each of the plurality of cameras; a non-transitory computer readable medium operatively connected to the processor; a logic stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executed by the processor, causes the strike notification system to perform a method, the method comprising the steps of: calculating a strike zone, the strike zone being three dimensional spatial volume above home plate triangulating a position of the baseball in a three coordinate space via position information received from the plurality of cameras; if the position of the baseball is within the strike zone, then emitting a first audible notification via the speaker; if the position of the baseball is not within the strike zone, then emitting a second audible notification via the speaker. 2) The strike notification system of claim 1, wherein the power source of the headset is a rechargeable battery. 3) The strike notification system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras includes a first camera configured to measure the position of a ball along a width axis, a second camera configured to measure the position of the ball along a length axis, and a third camera configured to measure the position of the ball along a height axis. 4) The strike notification system of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising strike zone height information relating to one or more batters stored thereon. 5) The strike notification system of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of cameras is configured to measure the distance between a batter's knees and the midpoint between the top of the batter's shoulders and the top of the batter's uniform pants. 6) The strike notification system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras are configured to wirelessly communicate with the headset via a Bluetooth connection. 7) The strike notification system of claim 1, wherein the first audible notification comprises an exclamation of the word strike. 8) The strike notification system of claim 1, wherein the second audible notification comprises an exclamation of the word ball. 